The present invention relates to dispensing package holders, and, more particularly to a device for holding one or more boxes or packages that are designed for dispensing articles.
Devices for holding packages are particularly common in the medical services industry, for instance, for holding multiple boxes containing medical accessories. One specific example found in many hospital rooms is a device for holding multiple boxes of examination gloves, such as a box of small size gloves, a box of medium size gloves and a box of large size gloves. A common configuration of such a glove box holder includes a C-shaped receptacle with an opening at the upper end. Multiple boxes can be inserted through the opening so they are stacked on top of each other within the receptacle. The boxes are oriented within the receptacle such that the openings in the boxes face the gap in the C-shaped receptacle to allow users to remove gloves from the boxes through the gap.
Difficulties arise in the common glove box configuration when attempting to replace an empty glove box. All of the boxes in the receptacle above the empty box must be removed in order to access and remove the empty box. If the bottom box is empty, the top two boxes must therefore unnecessarily be removed in order to remove and replace the empty box. This often creates extra work for already overworked hospital staff members. In addition, removing and replacing boxes from a top-load style holder can be inconvenient for users, because of the need to reach over the top of the holder to remove each box. This can be particularly difficult for shorter users, or in situations where the holder must be mounted high on a support structure. Further problems arise because of the limited amount of available space in many environments, including hospital rooms. The space above the glove box holder may become cluttered with a variety of items, such as hoses or additional instruments, that can prevent easy removal of the packages from a top-loading holder.